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Bidding rules are applied to the bids calculated by Marin’s automated bidding algorithms in order to control or restrain bids based on your own business needs. They can be used to create a bid cap, a bid floor, a maximum bid change percentage and more, in order to make certain your Bid Strategy meets your business' unique needs.
Before you begin: Rules can be an incredibly valuable part of your optimization, however, since they can interfere with the algorithm's ability to make bidding decisions, it's important to validate the purpose of each rule and carefully consider its expected impact prior to implementation.
If in doubt, opt for using fewer rules, instead of more rules, to give the bidding algorithm freedom to increase or decrease your bids without running into restrictions. And if you're ever uncertain what a rule does or if it's right for your business, don't hesitate to reach out to a platform representative or our Customer Support team to discuss how each rule fits as part of your overall bidding strategy.
In this article, we'll talk about how to use rules in both MarinOne and Marin Search. We'll indicate where the two platforms differ.
Note: In MarinOne, you'll see the bidding structure referred to as Bid Strategies. In Marin Search, these are called Folders. You'll see the two terms both used in this article, as there are locations in the user interface where you might see one or the other.
Set a Bid Cap is the maximum allowable bid. For example, a bid cap of $100 means the bidding algorithm is not allowed to increase your bid over $100.
Keep in mind that a Bid Cap ignores your Bid Strategy-level targets by placing a cap on the allowable bid. In other words, if your Bid Strategy is performing well and Marin's Automated Bidding would like to increase keyword bids to reach your target, a Bid Cap can interfere with this optimization.
Set a Bid Floor is the minimum allowable bid. For example, a bid floor of $5 means the bidding algorithm is not allowed to decrease your bid below $100.
Keep in mind that a Bid Floor ignores your Bid Strategy-level targets by placing a floor on the allowable bid. In other words, if your Bid Strategy is not performing well and Marin's Automated Bidding would like to decrease keyword bids to reach your target, a Bid Floor can interfere with this optimization.
Keep above First Page Bid causes the minimum allowable bid for Google keywords to be equal to the First Page Minimum Bid determined by the publisher.
Keep in mind that the Google First Page bid does not take efficiency into consideration and may not result in a well-optimized Bid Strategy.
Set a Position Cap prevents the algorithm from increasing bids on keywords above the position cap the prior day. This rule can help prevent costly CPC increases with little-to-no increases in click volume, and protect you against competitor bid manipulation tactics.
Note: Position Caps are no longer supported for Google or Yahoo Japan objects.
Limit bid change under % (Maximum Bid Change) is the maximum percentage that bids can change each day. For example, if Marin's Automated Bidding has determined that your current keyword bid is $1, but the ideal bid will eventually need to reach $5, then this rule will allow the change to take place incrementally, with small increases of 25% over the course of several days or weeks, rather than taking place all at once.
This rule controls the reactivity of a Bid Strategy to market changes, often preventing the over-optimization of bids. It is strongly recommended to set this to a maximum of 25%. Consider lowering it if your keywords only generate 1 or 2 conversions per week on average.
Set a Search Impression Share Cap allows you to set an impression share cap on bid strategies that are NOT bidding toward an Awareness Target. This means that even Bid Strategies that are targeting a financial goal (CPL, Margin, ROI, ROAS) can have an impression share cap. For example, if you're bidding toward a Margin goal, an impression share cap will prevent the algorithm from increasing bids on keywords that are already sitting above the impression share cap.
Note: This rule is unique to MarinOne and is not available in Marin Search. Also, there are three different types of Impression Share Caps. To use, you will select the one that best fits your bidding needs. You can only use one type of Impression Share Cap at a time.
Set a Top Impression Share Cap allows you to set an impression share cap on Awareness Targeting bid strategies that are bidding toward Top Imp % (Top Impression Percentage). This means your bid strategy is targeting the top of the page (anything above the fold on the Search Engine Results Page).
Note: This rule is unique to MarinOne and is not available in Marin Search. Also, there are three different types of Impression Share Caps. To use, you will select the one that best fits your bidding needs. You can only use one type of Impression Share Cap at a time.
Set an Abs. Top Impression Share Cap allows you to set an impression share cap on Awareness Targeting bid strategies that are bidding toward Abs. Top Imp. % (Absolute Top Impression Percentage). This means your bid strategy is targeting the very first ad position on the Search Engine Results Page.
Note: This rule is unique to MarinOne and is not available in Marin Search. Also, there are three different types of Impression Share Caps. To use, you will select the one that best fits your bidding needs. You can only use one type of Impression Share Cap at a time.
Maximum CPL / Minimum Margin allows you to set a lower efficiency target for Google keywords below the first-page-bid-minimum. This rule is designed to periodically re-test keyword profitability on Page 1 and should be set equal to the Target CPL or Margin when launching bidding for the first time. Consider setting a Maximum CPL higher than the Target CPL (or Minimum Margin lower than the Target Margin) for 1 week every 3-6 months. This will give keywords that have been bid down below the first-page-bid-minimum an opportunity to perform at the primary target in a changed market.
Note: This rule is unique to Marin Search and is not available in MarinOne.
Minimum Bid Change is the minimum amount in which a bid can change each day. This rule should not be used unless the daily bidding process is taking a significant amount of time due to the number of biddable objects in your account.
Note: This rule is unique to Marin Search and is not available in MarinOne.
Excluded Dates allow you to exclude click and conversion data for specified dates or date ranges from being used to calculate your bids . This is useful if there has been a period or day of unusual performance which would skew bid calculations (e.g. Black Friday sale), or if you have a data integrity issue such as unreliable or missing revenue data. This setting recognizes both past and future dates.
Boost is a bid multiplier applied to objects within a Bid Strategy and can be used to control spend, volume, and efficiency. Adjusting Boost has the same effect as adjusting a Bid Strategy efficiency target (e.g. increasing Boost by 10% is mathematically equivalent to increasing Target CPL from $1.00 to $1.10).
Boosts can be either Static or Scheduled. A static boost will be applied to your Bid Strategy long-term, while a scheduled boost can be turned on and off based on a date range of your choosing. Scheduled boosts can be used for promotions, seasonality, or any other time when your bids need to be adjusted short-term.
Bid Overrides allow you to remove specific keywords from automated bidding even if their Campaign or Ad Group is mapped to an active Bid Strategy. This rule is not recommended unless there is a specific business reason to use it. Settings include:
Note: In the grid, if your Bid Override is turned on, the column will display Override, rather than On, which is a change in behavior from Marin Search.
Excluded Dates can be set at either the Folder level or the Marin Client Account level. We'll review both below.
If you'd prefer to input your Excluded Dates at the Client level, to be applied to all Folders in your Marin Client Account, simply follow the instructions listed below.
Bid Overrides can be set in MarinOne using a bulk upload. At present, Bid Overrides cannot be set using a single or multi-edit, but we plan to add this functionality in a future release.
Note: For MarinOne's automated bidding to work best, we recommend using Bid Overrides strategically and only when needed. If you're uncertain if Bid Overrides are the right choice for you bidding goals, please reach out to a platform representative.